New Mayor Orders Budget Freeze

EAST HARTFORD — — In a memo to all town directors and department heads, Mayor Marcia Leclerc announced a budget freeze Friday that prohibits all non-emergency purchases unless approved by her.

In addition to costs incurred during the recent snowstorm, Leclerc wrote in the letter that "the lingering impacts of the economic downturn have made this measure necessary now, and will carry all the way through the 2011 fiscal year."

She asked her directors and department leaders to take all measures to prevent non-emergency spending, such as job training not required for certification, to-be-approved travel and all supply purchases, while keeping the existing level of services in place.

Finance Director Michael Walsh said that the suggestion to implement a pay freeze was offered as early as Wednesday, and Leclerc decided to do it, with the possibility of another costly snowstorm next week.

Walsh added that the town also has to consider that there's 2 1/2 months of winter left and the public works department already has spent all of its allocated $340,000 in overtime pay.

"Our priority is public safety. Anything else that is non-essential we can put to bed next year," he said.

Walsh noted that the exact cost of Wednesday's storm will not be available until the snow removal efforts are complete. He anticipates it will be more expensive than the roughly $100,000 storm on Dec. 26.

As of Friday afternoon, the town was preparing to put more employees on the street overnight and into the weekend to move snow from the streets to a spot in Rentschler Field.

Leclerc also advised department heads and directors to be conservative about authorizing overtime.

"I am also asking all departments to be judicious with overtime spending, approving it only when contractually required or absolutely necessary," she wrote in Friday's letter.

Walsh explained that aside from high snow removal costs, spending on overtime for public safety officials has also gone up.

"We have had a considerable amount of overtime within the police department as a result of two major criminal investigations," he said. "We're also down in open positions in dispatch. We're running a high amount of overtime there."

Walsh said increased overtime is consistent in the fire department as well.